Beverly man sues Stop & Shop over so

By Eli Curwin

After purchasing flushable wipes from a Stop & Shop supermarket in February, a Beverly man is now filing a class action lawsuit claiming the grocery chain misled him and hundreds of thousands of consumers by marketing the wipes, which he claims often clog and damage pipes, as flushable.

Mark Schotte, who filed the complaint in Massachusetts federal court on Wednesday on behalf of consumers who have bought Stop & Shop-branded and Always My Baby-branded flushable wipe products, is hoping to receive at least $5 million in damages.

Schotte claims that he would not have purchased the wipes, or would not have spent as much money on them, had he known the fine print at the bottom of the packaging — which he says is also obscured by a tab on the container — warns of several circumstances where the wipes are unsafe to flush. The disclaimer, Schotte argues, contradicts the large, bolded flushable marketing clearly visible on the front of the packaging — and makes the wipes worthless.

"The mislabeling of the Wipes renders the products completely worthless. There is no value to consumers for purportedly ‘flushable’ wipes that are not actually flushable," the lawsuit stated.

"No reasonable consumer would even notice the disclaimer, which is located on the underside of the packaging, in small print, and is hidden by a tab that must be folded up to even view it," the complaint added above an image of a disclaimer obscured by part of the wipes’ packaging.

Additionally, the complaint states that often these marketed flushable wipes cost more than alternatives, including other wet wipes that are not marketed as flushable. The lawsuit pointed out "Always My Baby Thick & Gentle Baby Wipes Scented," notably not labeled as flushable, cost 4 cents per wipe, while "Always My Baby Toddler Wipes Melonberry Flushable Wipes" and "Stop & Shop Flushable Cleansing Wipes Fresh Scent" cost 5 cents per wipe.

"Nevertheless, the Wipes are labeled and sold as an alternative to toilet paper, and they command a significant price premium over non-flushable wipes and traditional toilet paper," the lawsuit said. "Thus, Plaintiff and Class Members have been hit with a costly double-whammy: a premium purchase price for a worthless product."

While Schotte never claims his pipes nor toilet were damaged, the complaint states that the wipes "do not break apart or disperse in a reasonable period of time, resulting in clogs or other sewage damage" and makes note of several studies describing the damage that marketed flushable wipes cause to consumers. According to one report by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies cited by the lawsuit, "wipes result in about $441 million per year in additional operating costs in the collection systems of clean water utilities in the U.S. and impose over $30,000 in additional collection system operating costs on the average utility per year."

A similar lawsuit in April 2022 resulted in a $20 million payout to consumers who purchased Kimberly-Clark flushable wipes.

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